TERROR WATCH — THE COMING FRANCO-BELGIAN DIVORCE: This week it’s all publicly confessed mutual love between France and Belgium, but Nicholas Vinocur and Carmen Paun warn you should not expect that to last. “Such talk barely conceals the mutual frustration that has been building up for months, reflecting deeper historical tensions between France and its northern neighbor.”

“In Brussels, officials are fed up with being lectured to by an ‘arrogant’ and ‘imperious’ France on how to handle terrorist threats. In Paris, politicians hold an ‘incompetent’ and ‘hapless’ Belgian government responsible for November’s terror attacks … If and when Abdeslam is transferred to France for trial, Paris will have no more reason to massage Belgian feelings.” http://politi.co/1pYV13U

TERROR WATCH — BELGIUM IMPROVING, BUT NOT FAST ENOUGH, MINISTER WARNS: As part of a week-long CNN series called “Belgium: Frontline of Terror,” Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon says of the battle against radicalized youth, “One-and-a-half years ago, we had 15 persons per month leaving for Syria or Iraq, now it’s less than five. Five is too much, I am aware of that … If you see that people are still leaving to join ISIS, we didn’t do enough. That’s clear. The aim, the goal, is zero people.” http://cnn.it/25hqu1w

TERROR WATCH — LIST OF ACTIVE CASES CONTINUES TO GROW: “Belgian federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw says anti-terror investigators are not just working on the November 13 Paris attacks case. He said last year Belgium worked on 315 new anti-terror cases and nearly 60 so far this year alone. Paris prosecutor François Molins says France also has 244 anti-terror cases in progress involving 772 individuals either charged or sought.” http://apne.ws/1pwutq5

MIGRATION …

THE VIEW FROM TURKEY — ERDOĞAN SLAMS EU HYPOCRITES: “Everyone who complains about the refugees are two-faced and hypocritical,” says Turkish president, laying blame for “derogatory treatment” of refugees at European borders squarely on EU shoulders, for three reasons. First the union’s divided attitude to the refugees, second because it will not back airstrikes in Syria, and third because of occasional support to a PKK ally in Syria considered to be effective against ISIL (Erdoğan blames the PKK for the wave of terror attacks in Turkey that have killed 230 since June). http://politi.co/1WEouKN

THE VIEW FROM THE BERLAYMONT —TIMMERMANS’ LATEST TV INTERVIEW: The third in a series of monthly interviews Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans is doing for Dutch TV station NOS is now available. He calls implementing the Turkey deal “the toughest task for the European Commission yet” and admits “we don’t know when the first boats will be going back.” He claims that key to the deal’s success is getting migrants from Turkey entering legally and that “I think even countries like Poland and Hungary are now willing to take their share.” http://bit.ly/1ZmEWRD

2,000 NEW ARRIVALS AND COUNTING: 72,000 can slip through Turkey’s borders before the EU-Turkey deal is invalidated. In the first 48 hours more than 2,000 have made it to Greece. Derek Gatopoulos and Lorne Cook: http://apne.ws/1MyMzgw

PORTUGAL INVITES SYRIANS TO ‘COME WEST:’ Paul Ames writes, “Plenty of European leaders have a problem with refugees, but António Costa’s is unusual: the Portuguese prime minister can’t get enough of them.” http://politi.co/1pGTtvw

DEFENSE — MINISTERS UNITE OVER RUSSIA THREAT IN UKRAINE: The Swedish (non-NATO) and Lithuanian (NATO) defense ministers have jointly published an article for the Atlantic Council, outlining that Russia in Ukraine cannot be overlooked as the biggest threat to Europe right now. http://bit.ly/1Uh0gcl

DEFENSE — WHAT HAPPENED TO NATO’S SPEARHEAD FORCE? In the wake of mounting air and sea incursions by Russia against NATO members, and Russia’s invasion of Crimea, this brigade-size “spearhead,” “known as the ‘Very High Readiness Joint Task Force’ (VJTF), was intended to come into operation in early 2016 and serve as NATO’s first responders in any potential conflict.” Robbie Gramer argues that the force is, in effect, militarily and financially impotent compared to the much larger forces Russia is ready to deploy not only along Europe’s Baltic borders but also to the south. He says the next chance to address these weaknesses is the NATO summit in Warsaw in July, and through boosting chronic military underspending in national budgets. http://bit.ly/1Rchi8w

DEFENSE — EU TRAINING BASE ATTACKED IN MALI: Gunmen attacked a hotel being used by 600 personnel as an EU training base in the Malian capital Bamako on Monday night. Shots were fired and at least one explosion was heard at the Azalai Hotel Nord Sud, L’Express reported. http://politi.co/1T4I6sx

TRANSPORT — BULC ON UBER AND DRONES: Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc sat down with POLITICO to discuss how the sharing economy has disrupted traditional industries and what EU countries should be doing about it. She argues that the debate is too focused on Uber’s business model and not enough on how new businesses offer extra ways to serve customers. The priority, she says, is creating a level playing field, whereby all pay their taxes, while ensuring a space to innovate. http://politi.co/1Rur3kG

TAXATION — LEAKED PROPOSAL CONFIRMS COMMISSION INTENTION: The European Commission is likely to push multinational companies operating in the European Union to disclose all their tax information country-by-country, in an “understandable” form, if they have a revenue of over €750 million annually. The leaked document shows planned changes to the Accounting and Transparency Directives of 2013 for companies established in the EU. The companies would also be required to publish tax information on their operations outside the Union, but would not be expected to break down this information country-by-country. http://bit.ly/1MyK5i6

ICC — BEMBA CONVINCTED OF WAR CRIMES, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: After five and a half years, former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba was found guilty, unanimously, in a verdict that cements rape as a war crime, and finds command responsibility as a basis for conviction of such crimes.Bemba is the highest-ranking official yet to be convicted by the court.http://nbcnews.to/1MyLyFk

UK — THE TORY CIVIL WAR HAS STARTED: Robert Colvile concludes that Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation is a calculated attack on leadership hopeful George Osborne. http://politi.co/1Rw5ZUu

FRANCE — HOLLANDE URGES MAJOR ECONOMIES TO LAUNCH WAR AGAINST HIGH DRUG PRICES: The French president wants other G-7 countries to support a joint initiative to reduce the prices of new drugs. Natalie Huet writes that the Elysée thinks “The rising costs of innovative medicines … threaten the core principles of equality and solidarity,” before noting that action by individual countries will not solve the problem. POLITICO Pro: http://politi.co/1Rf8vBv

FRANCE — RIGID LABOR LAWS A FINAL STRAW FOR LACEMAKER: As French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron battles to reform the French economy, companies Desseilles Laces, one of three surviving lace factories (out of 120) in Calais, explains why current laws are leaving them on the verge of collapse. Michel Rose reports:http://reut.rs/1Uh28Sa

NETHERLANDS: New poll for the D66 party shows a neck-and-neck race in a referendum on whether to approve the EU-Ukraine association agreement. “Yes” is on 35 percent and “No” on 36 percent with two weeks to go before the vote. http://bit.ly/21EBrWu

ENERGY — COAL FACES COLLAPSE: POLITICO’s Kalina Oroschakoff reports on why investors are dumping coal. http://politi.co/1MyPFkG New Republic notes that 200 of the 523 coal plants in the U.S. have announced they will closing in the next few years, and one state, Oregon, has now banned coal electricity entirely, from 2035. http://bit.ly/1U3iTQz

LOBBYING — TTIPAND TRANSPARENCY: 45 lobbying organizations, headed by Corporate Observatory Europe, have written to Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström to complain about “institutionalization of lobbying.” The cause of the concerns is a new EU position paper on “regulatory cooperation and good regulatory practices.” While the lobbyists admit that “it is unclear precisely what form such ‘cooperation’ would take,” they are certain the Commission is up to something. http://bit.ly/25fpZ8l

MACEDONIA — EU CAN’T AFFORD TO BE BLACKMAILED: Former MEP Edit Herczog writes, “The critical role Macedonia has played in the unfolding of the refugee crisis was not by choice. But the ruling government is opportunistically using its position to deflect criticism from Brussels on its internal political turmoil.” http://politi.co/1UApZfc

UNITED STATES — SUPREME COURT JUSTICE SAID SENATE SHOULD KEEP POLITICS OUT OF COURT: Ten days before Justice Antonin Scalia died, Chief Justice John Roberts said the Senate should ensure that nominees are qualified, and leave politics out of it. By Adam Liptak: http://nyti.ms/1UKgjgX

US 2016 — ARIZONA AND UTAH VOTE TODAY IN PRIMARIES …

US 2016 — THE REPUBLICANS’ FRENCH REVOLUTION: John Hart writes for POLITICO Magazine that Ted Cruz plays Robespierre and Donald Trump is Napoleon: http://politi.co/1Rwife6. Plus a chart from Slate depicting the GOP’s mounting Trump panic: http://bit.ly/1RcoHVz

CHINA — HOW CHINA’S CENTRAL BANK BEGGED FOR THE US FED PLAYBOOK: “Confronted with a plunge in its stock markets last year, China’s central bank swiftly reached out to the U.S. Federal Reserve, asking it to share its play book for dealing with Wall Street’s ‘Black Monday’ crash of 1987.” http://reut.rs/1Uf8jq7

MEDIA — Press Club Brussels Europe Annual General Assembly 2016 at 6 pm for all journalist members of the Club. Registration required: secretary@pressclub.be

GADGET ALERT FOR IPHONE AND KINDLE OWNERS: Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have shown how Apple’s iMessage platform can be hacked and “it shatters the notion that strong commercial encryption has left no opening for law enforcement and hackers.” http://wapo.st/1Po40QF. On the more practical level Kindle owners are warned to update the software on their devices before March 22 to avoid a loss in service due to software support changes. http://bit.ly/1UAuExH

IN THE LOOP — POLITICO PODCASTS: Catch this week’s French-language POLITICO “In the Loop” podcast with Pierre Briançon and Nicholas Vinocur: http://politi.co/1ScPS1p; the English-language podcast with James Panichi, Zoya Sheftalovich and Nicholas Hirst is here: http://politi.co/25aRsI4

APPOINTED: Tom McTague is joining POLITICO in London as Chief U.K. Correspondent, based out of Westminster. He was previously political editor at the Independent on Sunday.